Scottsbluff (Neb.) It’s that time of year…We’re freezin’ for a reason! The local committee to benefit Special Olympics Nebraska will be holding its 8th annual Panhandle Polar Plunge Saturday, February 23, 2019 at Riverside Park in Scottsbluff.

Those brave enough to run into the icy waters of the river are invited to join the committee and Special Olympics athletes to raise money for Special Olympics by collecting pledges and coming out to plunge. Plungers are encouraged to form teams and dress in costumes. Prizes will be awarded for raising pledges and creativity.

Registration begins at 9:30, and the Polar Plunge begins at 10:45 a.m. at the pathway parking area in Riverside Park. There will be a post-plunge party immediately following the event at the YMCA camp.

We encourage individual and team participation. Each plunger is asked to raise at least $50 in donations. Incentives begin with $75 in donations. Individuals and teams can register at the Firstgiving page,https://www.firstgiving.com/sone.

There is a link to Polar Plunge information, registration forms and contact information on Scotts Bluff County’s homepage atwww.scottsbluffcounty.org. The same information is available at the Special Olympics Nebraska website, www.sone.org.

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24-Jan-2019 / OTCF Press Release

Scottsbluff, Nebraska -1/19/19- West Nebraska Arts Center (WNAC) has been awarded a grant of $4,000.00 by the Oregon Trail Community Foundation (OTCF) to purchase new sound systems for both of our galleries, the Main gallery and our Bronson gallery.

West Nebraska Arts Center Executive Director, Michele Denon, said, “We are thrilled to be supported by such a wonderful organization. OTCF and their financial leadership are an important part of the upkeep, as well as the progress, at WNAC, and we couldn’t be more grateful for the support.” The sound systems have already helped to round out the beautiful environment we have here at the West Nebraska Arts Center. Music is an integral part of the atmosphere in the galleries and sets the tone for viewing and enjoying the artwork. Our wine tasting fundraiser last weekend was enhanced by the opportunity to play 60’s music to go along with our Creative Juices theme. The sound systems we had previously were very outdated, the one from the Bronson gallery had and 8 track in it.

“The West Nebraska Arts Center building sits on the site of the old Campbellite Church. The land was sold to the City Library in 1921 by St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church. The Scottsbluff Carnegie Library was constructed with a grant from the Carnegie Corporation. The building, a representation of the neo-classical revival style, has a unique personality, charm, and special features that make it a treasure in our community. We feel strongly that it is our responsibility to care for her. This grant will help us in further enhance the overall experience of our Art Shows as well as Art Classes and the Fundraisers we hold. We are appreciative of organizations such as The Oregon Trail Community Foundation, who share our vision of ensuring that WNAC is a place our community can continue to enjoy for many years to come,” Denton said.

Located on the corner of 18th Street and 1st Avenue just one block from downtown Scottsbluff, WNAC is a beautiful space with two galleries that now have 18 exhibits each year featuring local, national, and international artists representing a wide variety of visual art. Each exhibit has an opening reception providing visitors with the opportunity to meet the artist(s), see the show, and enjoy music, food and refreshments. Gallery exhibits and receptions are always FREE and open to everyone.

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23-Jan-2019 / SBPS Release

Scottsbluff High School is proud to announce that two Air Force Junior ROTC cadets have been selected to the AFJROTC Chief of Staff Flight Academy Private Pilot Scholarship Program. SHS AFJROTC Cadets Brooke DeSha and Paul Esparza-Garcia have received a scholarship to attend an accredited aviation university participating in a private pilot license training program in the summer of 2019. DeSha is currently a Senior at Scottsbluff High School and Esparza-Garcia is a Sophomore.

The cadets are two of 150 Air Force Junior ROTC cadets around the world to receive the scholarship from Headquarters Air Force Junior ROTC, Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama. More than 1,560 cadets applied for one of the 150 scholarships. There are more than 120,000 high school students enrolled in Air Force Junior ROTC at almost 900 high schools in the U.S and overseas. The scholarship covers transportation, room and board, academics and flight hours required to potentially earn a private pilot license. The scholarship is valued at approximately $20,000.

The Flight Academy Scholarship Program is Air Force-level initiative in collaboration with the commercial aviation industry to address the national civilian and military pilot shortage. Those who participate in the program do not incur a military commitment to the Air Force or other branch of service, nor does completing the program guarantee acceptance into one of the military’s commissioning programs.

The mission of Air Force Junior ROTC is to develop citizens of character dedicated to serving their nation and community, while instilling values of citizenship, service to the United States, personal responsibility and sense of accomplishment. Air Force Junior ROTC is in its first year at Scottsbluff High School.

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22-Jan-2019 / Associated Press

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Officials say an online site can provide winter travelers with information about Nebraska road conditions from the perspective
of snowplow drivers. The Nebraska Transportation Department said in a news release Tuesday that the online Plow Tracker interactive map shows state plow trucks on highways. At the click of a mouse, site users can see what the snowplow drivers are seeing, thanks to forward-facing dashboard
cameras. Plow Tracker automatically refreshes information every minute. Department operations manager Tom Sands says the weather conditions can often
be worse than they appear on the dash cameras, which show only a portion of a roadway.

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21-Jan-2019 / Ap

CHAPPELL, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a man stabbed outside a mobile home in the Nebraska Panhandle has died.

Deuel County Attorney Joel Jay says that Robert Mick died Thursday. He'd been stabbed Jan. 13 in Chappell.

A woman accused of stabbing Mick, 49-year-old Susan Glenn, so far is charged with assault and use of a weapon. Jay says it's not yet been determined whether any changes in the charges will be made. Her attorney didn't immediately return a call Monday from The Associated Press.

Court records say a witness who'd been standing outside the home talking to Mick was on the phone with 911 dispatchers when Glenn came out of the residence, stabbed Mick and fled in her car.

She went to the county sheriff's office later, and the records say she acknowledged stabbing Mick.

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21-Jan-2019 / Ap

STANTON, Neb. (AP) — Authorities are searching for a man and motorcycle last seen on the ice of a lake in northeast Nebraska.

Dive teams were called in Monday to help search an area of open water spotted at Maskenthine Lake. He was last seen riding on Sunday afternoon. It wasn't clear whether the open water was a result of the motorcycle or something else breaking through the ice. The lake sits about 2 miles (3 kilometers) north of Stanton in Stanton County.

The man's name hasn't been released.

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21-Jan-2019 / Ap

DEWITT, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a 2-year-old Nebraska boy died after he was hit by a bus driven by his father.

The Beatrice Daily Sun reports the incident happened Saturday in the driveway of the family's rural home about 5 miles east of DeWitt in southeast Nebraska.

Just before 1 p.m. Saturday, the family called for help after the boy was run over. Two-year-old Maddox Weber died at the scene.

The Nebraska State Patrol is investigating.

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19-Jan-2019 / Ap

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska is likely to face a prison overcrowding emergency next year that will force state officials to consider releasing all eligible inmates, a prospect some lawmakers fear would endanger the public.

Nebraska corrections director Scott Frakes acknowledged Friday that his department will probably fail to meet a mandatory deadline to reduce the state's prison population by July 1, 2020, triggering the emergency.

Frakes said prison officials have more work to do after members of a legislative committee repeatedly asked him if he believed the goal was still attainable.

"Based on the current population, it's doubtful," Frakes said to the Legislature's Judiciary Committee.

The deadline imposed by the Legislature requires the Department of Correctional Services to lower its inmate population to 140 percent of what its facilities were designed to hold. If the department falls short of that target, the prisons will fall into an automatic "overcrowding emergency" that will force state officials to consider paroling all eligible inmates right away.

Lawmakers set the deadline as part of a 2015 prison reform package to hold the corrections department accountable in its efforts to reduce prison crowding. The package was designed to reduce the number of inmates by placing more emphasis on parole and rehabilitation, but it hasn't yet produced all the desired results.

As of last month, Nebraska's prison overcrowding was worse than when lawmakers approved the 2015 reform package. The prisons housed 5,338 inmates in facilities that were designed to hold 3,375, placing the population at roughly 158 percent of its design capacity, according to the Department of Correctional Services.

Sen. Steve Lathrop, chairman of the Legislature's Judiciary Committee, said he was concerned that state officials will end up "staring at an emergency" if they don't act now to release more inmates in a safe, controlled manner.

"Tell us what you need, because this is a concern," said Lathrop, of Omaha.

The law allows parole board members to deny parole if they believe inmates pose a "very substantial" risk of violence or are deemed likely to violate parole.

Frakes said he takes the issue seriously and promised he and his staff will "do everything we can" to reduce the inmate population. But he gave lawmakers no recommendations other than approving the budget request Gov. Pete Ricketts unveiled last week on his behalf.

The request seeks $49 million for two new high-security units at the Lincoln Correctional Center, which Frakes said would help relieve overcrowding by adding space for 384 new beds. Construction likely wouldn't be complete until 2023 at the earliest — two years past the deadline.

Frakes said the new units would allow corrections officials to place the state's most dangerous inmates in one central location in Lincoln, where they'd be less likely to cause problems that make it harder to rehabilitate other prisoners. High-security inmates are currently housed at the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln and the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution, a facility in rural southeast Nebraska that struggles to fill job openings.

Sen. Wendy DeBoer, of Omaha, said the longer-term approach is good but voiced concern that prison officials aren't doing enough to address the immediate problem.

"I feel a little bit like we're in a house that's on fire, and we're installing fireproof tiles," she said.

Frakes said some factors that fed the overcrowding are beyond his control, including a small percentage of inmates who refuse to participate in rehabilitative programs. Corrections officials also have no influence over the number of inmates that are sent to their facilities, he said.

Nebraska Board of Parole Chairwoman Rosalyn Cotton has said her board is working to release as many parole-eligible inmates as possible, but doesn't want to compromise public safety just to meet the deadline.

Sen. Kate Bolz, of Lincoln, said lawmakers may also want to look at state agencies outside of corrections, such as parole, probation and the court system, to help reduce the inmate population.

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19-Jan-2019 / Ap

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A passenger plane slid off an icy runway at Omaha's airport on Friday as freezing drizzle coated thoroughfares across much of the state ahead of expected snow and high winds.

Eppley Airfield officials said via Twitter that no one was injured when the Southwest Airlines plane from Las Vegas went off the end of the runway after landing just after 2 p.m. Friday. The incident led authorities to close the airport Friday afternoon and suspend all flights for more than two hours.

"Airport fire crews are working with Southwest to deplane the passengers and take them to the terminal," the airport's Twitter account read.

The airport reopened shortly before 5 p.m., but airport officials warned that most flights would continue to be delayed.

Freezing drizzle and mist cut visibility and slicked roads and sidewalks in much of the eastern half of Nebraska on Friday as residents prepared for a second straight weekend of harsh winter weather.

The National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory for much of the state, with snow expected by Friday evening into Saturday. The service had expected snowfall of more than 7 inches (18 centimeters) in some areas, but adjusted that downward by Friday afternoon to 1-to-3 inches (2.5-to-7.5 centimeters).

Of more concern were high winds of up to 30 mph (50 kph) expected late Friday and into Saturday that could whip up snow, cutting visibility and pushing high-profile vehicles off slick roads. Artic air is expected to move into the state behind the storm, sending wind chills to as low as 20 below zero on Saturday and Sunday.

Schools in the Omaha area canceled or cut classes short Friday in anticipation of the storm.

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19-Jan-2019 / Ap

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said he'll be making a "major announcement" on the government shutdown and the southern border on Saturday afternoon as the standstill over his border wall continues into its fifth week.

Democrats are now proposing hundreds of millions of dollars for new immigration judges and improvements to ports of entry from Mexico but nothing for the wall, a House aide said, as the party begins fleshing out its vision of improving border security.

After days of bitter clashes between Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, it was unclear if the twin developments represented serious steps toward resolving the nasty partisan fight or posturing. But they were the first tangible signs of movement in a dispute that has caused a partial government shutdown, which Saturday was entering its record 29th day.

Trump's refusal to sign spending bills that lack $5.7 billion he wants to start constructing that wall, which Democrats oppose, has prompted the shutdown.

The White House declined to provide details late Friday about what the president would be announcing. But Trump was not expected to sign the national emergency declaration he's been threatening as an option to circumvent Congress, according to two people familiar with the planning.

Instead, Trump was expected to propose the outlines of a new deal that the administration believes could potentially pave the way to an end to the shutdown, according to one of the people. They were not authorized to discuss the announcement and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The move, amid a shutdown that has left hundreds of thousands of federal workers without paychecks, represents the first major overture by the president since Jan. 8, when he delivered an Oval Office address making the public case for his border wall. Democrats have said they will not negotiate until the government reopens, raising questions about how Trump might move the ball forward.

Democrats were proposing $563 million to hire 75 more immigration judges, who currently face large backlogs processing cases, and $524 million to improve ports of entry in Calexico, California, and San Luis, Arizona, the Democratic House aide said. The money is to be added to spending bills, largely negotiated between the House and Senate, that the House plans to vote on next week.

In addition, Democrats were working toward adding money for more border security personnel and for sensors and other technology to a separate bill financing the Department of Homeland Security, but no funds for a wall or other physical barriers, the aide said.

It was possible Democrats would unveil that measure next week as the cornerstone of their border security alternative to Trump's wall, the aide said. Earlier Friday, Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif., who chairs the House Appropriations Committee's homeland security subcommittee, said in an interview that some Democrats were asking leaders, "What is our plan?"

The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss the details publicly. The Democrats' spending plans were first reported by The New York Times.

In a video posted on his Twitter feed late Friday, Trump said both sides should "take the politics out of it" and "get to work" to "make a deal." But he also repeated his warnings, saying: "We have to secure our southern border. If we don't do that, we're a very, very sad and foolish lot."

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said only that Trump was "going to continue fighting for border security" and "going to continue looking for the solution" to end what the administration had repeatedly referred to as a "humanitarian and national security crisis at the border."

While few would argue that a humanitarian crisis is unfolding at the U.S.-Mexico border, as the demand for entry by migrants and the Trump administration's hardline response overwhelm border resources, critics say Trump has dramatically exaggerated the security risks and argue that a wall would do little to solve existing problems.

Trump will be speaking from the Diplomatic Room at 3 p.m.

Trump's Friday evening tweeted announcement came after Pelosi, D-Calif., on Friday canceled her plans to travel by commercial plane to visit U.S. troops in Afghanistan, saying Trump had caused a security risk by talking about the trip. The White House said there was no such leak.

It was the latest turn — and potentially the most dangerous — in the high-stakes brinkmanship between Trump and Pelosi that has been playing out against the stalled negotiations over how to end the partial government shutdown.

And it showed once again the willingness of the former hard-charging businessman to hit hard when challenged, as he was earlier this week when Pelosi suggested postponing his State of the Union address until after the shutdown.

It was an unusually combative week between the executive and legislative branches.

Tensions flared when Pelosi suggested Trump postpone the annual State of the Union address, a grand Washington tradition — and a platform for his border wall fight with Democrats — that was tentatively scheduled for Jan. 29.

Trump never responded directly. Instead, he abruptly canceled Pelosi's military flight on Thursday, hours before she and a congressional delegation were to depart for Afghanistan on the previously undisclosed visit to U.S. troops.

Trump belittled the trip as a "public relations event" — even though he had just made a similar stop in a conflict zone during the shutdown — and said it would be best if Pelosi remained in Washington to negotiate to reopen the government.

Pelosi, undeterred, quietly began making her own preparations for the overseas trip.

But on Friday, Pelosi said her plan to travel by commercial plane had been "leaked" by the White House.

"The administration leaked that we were traveling commercially," Pelosi told reporters at the Capitol. She said it was "very irresponsible on the part of the president."

She said the State Department told her "the president outing" the original trip made the scene on the ground in Afghanistan "more dangerous because it's a signal to the bad actors that we're coming."

The White House said it had leaked nothing that would cause a security risk.

Denying military aircraft to a senior lawmaker — let alone the speaker, who is second in line to the presidency after the vice president, traveling to a combat region — is very rare.

Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California slammed Trump for revealing the closely held travel plan, calling it "completely and utterly irresponsible in every way."

Some Republicans expressed frustration. Sen. Lindsey Graham tweeted, "One sophomoric response does not deserve another." He called Pelosi's State of the Union move "very irresponsible and blatantly political" but said Trump's reaction was "also inappropriate."